


Out Cold

by starryeyedchar



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Narcolepsy, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 00:57:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11093571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryeyedchar/pseuds/starryeyedchar
Summary: Lance had always prided himself on being able to hide things. And it was even easier to hide things from the team than his enormous, nosy family.His ideas, insecurities, homesickness, bisexuality… he’d learned to bury these things deep down inside himself and try to ignore them.Lance didn’t see why his having narcolepsy should be any different.





	Out Cold

**Author's Note:**

> From a prompt on my tumblr :) and I'm bad at tagging stuff

Lance’s entire life was full to the brim with close calls.

Granted, fighting a war against a corrupt alien empire will have its share of near-death experiences. But, oddly enough, another type of close call worried him more.

Lance didn’t particularly want to die if he could avoid it, but he’d honestly prefer that to his teammates finding out.

And he _knew_ there was a chance they wouldn’t judge him for it, wouldn’t think it made him less of a paladin. After all, Hunk didn’t care in the slightest. But there was always the chance that they _would_.

Lance had always prided himself on being able to hide things. And it was even easier to hide things from the team than his enormous, nosy family. 

His ideas, insecurities, homesickness, bisexuality… he’d learned to bury these things deep down inside himself and try to ignore them.

Lance didn’t see why his having narcolepsy should be any different.

* * *

When Lance was young, he loved to lay on the beach and look up at the stars. He would always tell his family about his dreams to fly up there one day, to see the stars up close and personal. Lance _always_ preferred to be up close and personal.

One of his uncles pointed out that Lance would never be allowed to pilot a ship, not with his condition.

With Lance on the verge of tears, his mother had swooped in and saved the day, as usual. “We just won’t tell them, then.”

Lance managed to keep it from his roommate for some time, except once when he collapsed while walking down to breakfast at the Garrison. He spent an hour or so convincing Hunk he didn’t need to go to the infirmary after that. Funnily enough, Hunk had no qualms about keeping the information from the instructors.

Lance probably would’ve made it into the fighter pilot class sooner, all things considered. Randomly falling asleep made him late to class more times than Lance would like to count, especially when considering the sleep paralysis that often came after. Pair this up with him falling asleep in class, and every teacher came to see him as an idiot.

Never mind that his grades were almost (but not quite) as good as Hunk’s.

Lance didn’t mind playing the idiot, if it meant he could still be a pilot. So that’s how he decided to treat being a paladin of Voltron, too.

In retrospect, he knew it couldn’t last forever. But Lance would be damned if he didn’t try.

Late to training or meals because he was suddenly out cold? Just Lance being Lance. Hunk pestered him about falling asleep inside of Blue, and how dangerous it was, but thankfully the lion could manage to keep him out of danger long enough for him to wake up.

The others were sometimes curious about Lance’s silence, but Blue’s shoddy flying without a pilot was enough to convince them that Lance was still functioning. Which stung a little, if the blue paladin was honest.

The missions they had to do in person? Those were the real problem.

* * *

Shiro had a habit of sending the blue and red paladins on missions together. Something about them needing to function well as teammates.

On this particular day, they were scouting ahead on a planet that Allura had received a distress beacon from. The surface was almost entirely submerged in ankle deep water, at least where Keith had landed red. The few patches of ground they came across were muddy, and sunk under their feet.

And, as far as Lance could tell, the entire planet was sweltering.

“Why would anyone want to live in a place like this?” he grumbled. “There’s no solid ground!”

“Well, shouldn’t you be used to that?” Keith pointed out. “You wanted to be a pilot, didn’t you? Besides, you grew up on a beach.”

“How’d you know that?” Lance demanded. “I bet you’ve been spying on me to get ahead. I was right all along!”

“You talk about Cuba all the time,” Keith told him. “I’d be an idiot to _not_ know it.”

“You definitely are an idiot,” Lance agreed, though he was lost in thought. “Huh. Guess I just thought no one really listened when I went on rambles like that.”

“Why wouldn’t I be listening?”

“Do you ever listen to anyone?” Lance asked in return, smothering his grin. This earned a glare from the red paladin. “But seriously, the ocean is very, very different from this miserable swamp.”

“It’s so hot here, too,” Keith added. “Is Allura even sure there are inhabitants? If this mission is a waste, I’m going to be pissed.”

“The guardian spirit of fire can’t handle a little heat,” Lance observed with a teasing smile. “But I have to admit you’re right there.”

“Shouldn’t you be used to that, too?” Keith asked. “You were raised on a beach, after all.”

“Yes, but there was always the ocean to cool off!” Lance argued. “Here all we’ve got is mud stuck to our boots!” He lifted a foot for emphasis, causing Keith to snort.

“Maybe this isn’t the entirety of the planet,” Keith muttered hopefully. “Maybe the citizens live on an island?”

“Keith. You were the one flying around before we landed. Did you see anything but marshes?” Lance looked around, and sure enough nothing but the bog reached from horizon to horizon. The flat landscape was only interrupted by the red lion. “Maybe the aliens here are just small fish, and coming here to rescue them was just a waste of time.”

“Fishing laws,” Keith nodded his head in mock seriousness, and Lance couldn’t stop laughter from leaving him.

“Do you ever feel like we should come up with more concrete plans before getting dropped onto alien planets?” Lance mused. “I mean, for all we know some freaky swamp monster is waiting under all this gross water.”

“Whenever we make plans, they end up going to shit anyway,” Keith pointed out, hacking at a vine that had wrapped around his foot.

“You’re not wrong,” Lance conceded. “Half the time our attempts to stealthily sneak in and back out turn into us just having to bust our way back out of the Galra base, guns blazing.”

“At least that makes things more interesting.”

“Right,” sarcasm filled Lance’s voice. “Because what amounts to near-death experiences for the rest of us is just entertaining for the brilliant Keith Kogane, master of the sword.”

“And you’re going to tell me that you don’t enjoy storming out of Galra bases… what was it you said? ‘Guns blazing?'” Keith was careful to not look Lance’s way, knowing the blue paladin would be able to see the smile he was trying to hide. “Guns _are_ your thing, aren’t they?”

Keith turned when he heard Lance’s footsteps stop, afraid he’d said something wrong. But when he turned around, Lance was simply staring at Keith with a happy expression of wonder on his face.

“Yeah,” Lance mumbled, as if he couldn’t believe the words that just came out of Keith’s mouth. “Yeah, they are.”

The red paladin turned, trying to not feel too unsettled by what Lance said. The response was strange, and so very unlike the person Keith knew that he attempted to diffuse the tension with humor again.

“Maybe the aliens were sending a distress beacon because of how miserable their planet is,” Keith called, glancing over his shoulder briefly. “But they were waiting around so long that they just decided to jump ship instead. I can’t exactly blame them. Who’d want to live on a rock like this, right Lance?”

Lance opened his mouth as if to respond, but then suddenly his vision wobbled. The entire swamp seemed to tilt, and Lance panicked for a moment once he knew what was going on. He willed himself to stay awake, but it was no use.

All too soon the wet ground was rushing up to meet him, and then everything went dark.

* * *

The only answer Keith received was a loud splash from behind him.

He turned, at first thinking the blue paladin had tripped and fell on something. However, the second he saw Lance, Keith was struck to the bone with fear.

He’d fallen face first into the shallow water, and therefore wouldn’t be able to breathe. Keith rushed forward and turned him over, thanking every star he’d seen since coming up into space that Lance still had a heartbeat.

Did he just pass out? Keith couldn’t find anything seemingly wrong with Lance, which was what scared him the most. All the possibilities began racing through his head.

Marshes like this were crawling with mosquitoes on Earth. What if Lance had been bitten by some kind of alien bug? What if he had an old wound that got infected by the dirty water? What if he’d gotten a heat stroke from the intense temperatures?

Lance didn’t have a fever, or any visible injuries, fortunately. His breathing seemed to be normal. But no matter what Keith tried, Lance wouldn’t wake up.

“Lance, come on,” Keith shook him slightly, trying to force down his panic. “Wake up. This isn’t funny.”

Lance’s dead weight was more than Keith expected, and he knew there was no way he could carry his body all the way back to Red. Especially not with the ground sinking under their feet. Which meant that they’d have to wait for the others to come for rescue.

“Guys,” Keith’s voice shook as he turned on the com. “There’s a problem. Lance is… he collapsed.”

“ _WHAT_?!” Pidge shrieked. “What happened? Were you attacked?”

“No, he just— he just fell, and I don’t know what’s going on,” Keith said frantically, hands ghosting over Lance’s face.

Hunk cursed. “Keith, I know this is going to sound confusing, but trust me. Lance is going to be just fine, okay? He’ll wake up in a few minutes on his own, so don’t try to wake him.”

“How do you know that?!” Keith demanded. “I… I have no idea what’s wrong with him, we were just walking a minute ago—”

“Trust me,” Hunk repeated. “I can get there soon, but until then just sit tight. Well, unless… not counting sleep paralysis, of course. I don’t know if he still gets that as regularly as at the Garrison, but let me tell you it was pretty scary to be his roommate—”

“Hunk,” Shiro’s voice cut through the yellow paladin’s ramblings. “Do you know what’s happening to Lance?”

There was a beat of awkward silence. “Nope, no way,” Hunk said finally. “That’s his job to tell you. You’re going to have to wait until he wakes up, which he _will_ , I promise. I’ll be down soon.”

Keith wanted to pester him more, concern completely eradicating his respect for Lance’s privacy. Not that Keith knew much about boundaries to begin with. Still, Hunk was nothing if not loyal, and the red paladin knew he wouldn’t get an answer so easily.

So, he returned his attention to Lance’s limp form only to realize that his eyes were open.

Lance blinked slowly at Keith as if he didn’t know exactly where he was, before his eyes widened. “Please tell me what I think just happened didn’t actually happen.”

“You passed out,” Keith said bluntly. “Hunk says he knew you’d be fine, but… you had the rest of us really worried. Are you sick, or something?”

Lance winced. “Quiznak,” he forced a weak smile. “Something like that.”

“ _Lance_!” Keith resisted the urge to punch him in the arm. “This is serious. I… we were all really freaked out! One second we were just talking and then suddenly you’re on the ground and I just— what happened?”

“Had to happen eventually I suppose,” Lance muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Oh, perfect, now I’m completely covered in this nasty swamp water.”

Keith crossed his arms and glared pointedly at Lance. He sighed.

“And of course it had to be you,” he grumbled, before meeting Keith’s eyes. “I have narcolepsy.”

Keith had no idea what he’d been expecting, but that was definitely not what he thought Lance would say. “You… what?”

“Narcolepsy?” Lance held out his hands, as if gesturing would somehow help the red paladin understand. “You know, randomly falling asleep. Well, among other things. 'Randomly falling asleep’ is an understatement, and frankly sugarcoating it, but—”

“You mean to tell me that all this time… that you’ve had… how the hell were you allowed to become a pilot?!”

For a moment, it seemed to Keith that a light had been snuffed out somewhere behind Lance’s eyes. “It was my dream,” he spoke quietly. “It’s always been my dream. The only people that knew were my family and Hunk, after he found out. I kept it a secret from the instructors at the Garrison.”

“And from the team,” Keith reminded him. “How could you have kept something like this from us? Do you have any idea how much danger this puts all of us in? We’re trying to save the world, but if you had—”

“Don’t you think I know that?!” Lance nearly shouted. “I know, okay? I know that this puts everyone in danger! I know this could very well get someone killed.”

“Then why—?!”

“Because I was scared!” Lance exclaimed, tears welling up in his eyes. “I thought that if I told you, you’d kick me off the team, and send me back to Earth. I thought… you guys wouldn’t want me to keep defending the universe with you.”

All Keith’s anger dissipated immediately. “I thought… I thought you wanted to go back to Earth. To see your family?”

“Of course I do,” Lance whispered. “But… you guys are my family, too. And I want to be here, I want to be a part of Voltron even… even if you don’t need me, sometimes. And it might be selfish of me, to put you guys all in danger. But we’re fighting an alien empire that’s been in power for at least ten thousand years. Our lives are pretty threatened already.”

“Lance, you do realize that the person who’s in the most danger because of this,” Keith said carefully. “Is you, right?”

“I know.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“How did we not notice?” Keith wondered aloud. “The entire time you’ve had to deal with this…”

“You act like I haven’t been 'dealing with this’ my entire life,” Lance chuckled softly. “It’s not a problem unless I decide to make it one. Besides, it’s not that hard to hide stuff in a huge castle with only seven people living in it.”

“Fair enough,” Keith agreed.

“Do you…” Lance hesitated. “Do _you_ think I should go back to Earth?”

Keith stared at his feet. Despite how much more danger Lance’s life could potentially be in, and despite how much the very idea of Lance getting hurt scared him…

“I’ll have to keep a closer eye on you,” Keith said softly. “But no. I… definitely don’t want you to leave.”

“But… what if Allura—”

“Do you remember what you said to me?” Keith interrupted him. “When I told you I was Galra, do you remember what you said?”

The smile was small, but it was there. “The five of us are a team. Nothing can change that, or come between us. We’re not going to leave you behind just because we know more about you. You’re still you, and you’re still our friend.”

“I’ve never been good with words, but I think you just about covered it,” Keith smiled back. “And do you remember what you said about Allura and Coran?”

“Allura might take a bit longer to come around, but you know she will,” Lance recalled. “And I don’t think Coran has a malicious bone in his body… even if the Galra killed off his entire race.”

Keith snorted. “I forgot that you said that! I nearly punched you! I guess that part doesn’t exactly apply to you, huh?”

“Not really,” Lance admitted, still smiling softly. “You don’t think they’ll have a problem with it, though? You don’t think they’ll kick me off the team?”

“Of course not,” Keith hesitated before placing a comforting hand on Lance’s shoulder. To his surprise, the blue paladin leaned into the touch. “You’re the pilot of the blue lion. We need you. I _… I_ need you. You’re our family, too, right?”

Lance nodded, blinking back tears. “Right.”

Movement caught their eye, and both boys looked up to see the yellow lion flying towards them. Hunk to the rescue, just like he’d promised.

“You don’t have to tell them right away,” Keith offered. “Hunk and I can keep it a secret until you’re ready.”

“No, they’ll want answers after all that,” Lance sighed. “And they deserve to know. Just… could you be there? In case, you know, they freak out?”

“Of course,” Keith said immediately.

Lance was looking at him as if it was for the first time, and Keith shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

“What?” he asked, trying not to fidget. “Is… are you okay? Are you going to pass out again?!” With these words Keith shot onto his feet, slightly panicked.

“I’m fine,” Lance assured him, with a small laugh. Keith helped him up, their eyes met for a second. “I’m… great, actually. Better than I have been in a long time.”

Keith eyed him skeptically. “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head when you fell?”

“ _No_ ,” Lance insisted. “I just… realized something, that’s all.” Just because one secret got out didn’t make him any less good at hiding things. And Lance decided to hold onto this one until they were in a less… disgusting setting. And on a day where he wasn’t already so exhausted emotionally.

The yellow lion landed on the planet’s surface in front of them, and Lance grabbed Keith’s hand, yanking him forward.

“Come on,” he called over his shoulder. “Let’s go tell the team.”

 

_**The End** _


End file.
